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Relaxing with a beer and a little guitar practice Photo: S.Lawrence

I have always loved music! I think it mostly comes from my father, who is a talented piano and keyboard player and who has a pretty fair singing voice as well (unfortunately, my voice sounds like a cat trying to go to the toilet with it's bum sewn up!) My brother was a pretty good drummer but I never learned to play any form of instrument for a long time; partially because I didn't really know what I wanted to learn to play, but mostly because I have a really hard time reading music. Both my father and brother had a much broader musical taste than I had, but I'm catching up a little bit...

Then in 1991, I found myself working nights as a computer operator for a large finance company. The work was kind of weird; It was busy for the first couple of hours (doing pre-run backups and such) and for the last couple of hours (printing stuff out etc.) - but there was about an 8-hour period in the middle, where there was mostly nothing to do. You had to be there in case anything crashed, but there was nothing much to do...BORING!

One of the lads there was a guitar player and he started showing me some basic chords and a few simple songs (which I mostly learned parrot-fashion) on his classical guitar. My interest grew to the point that I purchased my own guitar and started mucking around a little with various pieces of music that took my fancy.

I still don't play very well; I don't practice often enough and I still can't read music (although I can almost cope with guitar tab) so there's no chance of ever being the next Eric Clapton, Steve Vai or Dave Gilmour, but I do enjoy playing. I find it very relaxing and there's a nice feeling of accomplishment, to pick a piece of music and practice until you get it down-pat, note for note.

My martial arts Sensei, Anthony Bailey is an excellent guitarist. His speciality is Spanish Flamenco but he is also an excellent classical guitar player and was a music teacher for a long time. Periodically, he plays at a local club and I always enjoy popping along for a beer or two and spending a couple of hours listening to a REAL guitarist play.

...among many others. The only thing that links most of these together is they all have quite distinctive guitar styles and some interesting licks and riffs.

Like most folks, my tastes have changed over the years; Su got me interested in music with a Celtic flavour and I quite like some of Clannad's stuff when I'm in the mood. But my heart still belongs to the rockers!

Sadly, I heard little mainstream popular music from the 90's  that interests me muchl. Most of it is hip-hop and rave, neither of which has any heart or soul (I must be getting old, because for music to be interesting to me now, it must be more than something to dance to!) - the odd Oasis track comes close, but doesn't really cut the mustard.  But in the new Millenium, things seem to be changing for the better; bands like ColdPlay, NickleBack and Primal Scream have all produced excellent tracks and new artists like Damien Rice and David Gray are helping to herald a new generation of musical expression. 

Recently, I've started helping out a couple of local bands as unoffical roadie/PA system monitor and in the process have meet terrific live acts such as Trafficker, fronted by the highly talented Tommy Allen - Tommy's website is well worth a visit!

If I had to pick one band as my favourite it would definitely be Pink Floyd. "Shine on you crazy diamond" (from the "Wish you were here" album) has got to be one of the greatest cuts of all time!   That said, I do think that by the time they released"The Wall" and "The Final Cut" it was getting pretty cynical. To paraphrase Dave Gilmour:-

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Graphics by Su Lawrence